The last week and a half has been a whirlwind of parties, celeb sightings, TIFF lounges, and more parties. It all got kicked off with a bang and an oyster bar at the Toronto Life’s Most Stylish soiree at the Four Seasons Hotel in Yorkville, celebrating this city’s most stylish denizens, featured in the latest issue of the Toronto Life Stylebook. Star-studded guest list included my fave gossip maven Lainey Lui (one of the 25 most stylish), brothers Dean and Dan Caten of DSQUARED2, Elisha Cuthbert with hockey hubby Dion Phaneuf, one half of the Property Brothers, model Stacey McKenzie, Suzanne and Chloe Rogers, Kimberly Newport Mimran, Joe Mimran, among many others.

After a bit of exploring, my buddies Sharon and Tara Ng and I parked ourselves next to the seafood bar, loading up on crab, shrimp, and oysters, before walking over to explore the charcuterie station. Needless to say, the food was terrific. The beautifully-decorated ballroom was buzzing with excitement and Toronto’s most stylish partying under one roof made for some great people-watching.

This city is such a vibrant place to live, and every time I go away for a bit, I return a little more grateful for all it has to offer, so it is truly amazing to see a publication celebrating its own stylish peeps, instead of focusing on the usual suspects from other countries and cities. I already can’t wait to see who’ll be featured next year! Who would you nominate? Share in the comments.

When one is invited to an Ugg/Jimmy Choo Fall 2010 preview, one has to wonder what that would look like…a furry stiletto? Or perhaps a strappy Ugg? Hmm…not a winning combination in my head, but still, Al and I braved the Lakeshore rush-hour to be at Palais Royale for the launch.

First of all, I wonder if hell froze over, because the usually stiletto-clad Jeanne Beker was wearing…gasp…Uggs! What in the what? Ok, well, I guess it’s to be expected at an UGG preview, right? I guess so. She didn’t look bad in them, but it was definitely a change! Before the show began, the daughter of the The Mary Katz Claman Foundation for Alzheimer’s founder gave a touching speech, wearing Ugg clogs – who knew they made them too!?

The show was surprising…mostly because of the variety. There were your regular signature Ugg boots, riding boots, motorcycle boots for men (which I really loved), children’s shoes, slippers, converse look-alikes, and studded clog-like boots. Once the show was over, the Ugg team set up a gallery of shoes and boots for everyone’s viewing. Sorry for the crappy pictures, but I kept finding the worst lighting…perhaps it’s because I kept my eyes peeled for the delicious lemony gnocchi served in little spoons…so gooood!

Blue Print Cru and Jay Malinowski of the Bedouin Clash performed after the show, but most people already dashed for the door to get their personalized gift-bags. I, for one, did not put two and two together, when I was asked for my shoe size, so it was truly an awesome surprise when I got a pair of dark brown Uggs for myself…to replace my beige worn out ones. Yes, I confess, I am not one of those Ugg haters…I do think they are pretty awesome for Canadian winters…great for shoveling the snow and shuffling around the snowy streets of Toronto. Too bad the size was a tad too big for me, but I’ll definitely be checking out the Fall 2010 collection once it hits the stores. The Kensington boots in black are super hot and will be perfect for winter!

And though I didn’t see any shoes from the Jimmy Choo + Ugg collection, I do now have a bit of an idea as to what they might look like.

Huge thanks to Andrea of SeCe apparel for the invite! It truly was a party to remember!

This year, thanks to the wonderful Yorkdale Shopping Centre dream team, Al and I got royal treatment at LG Fashion Week. After having dinner with my fellow Yorkdale Is Me winners, we piled into a limo and were sent on our way to Allstream Centre with our very own amazing photoprapher – Mandy. All very Cinderella-like…except instead of the prince at the ball, we got to see some fun and fab fashion shows! And as usual, where there’s fashion, there’s fashionable peeps! I had so much fun meeting my Twit-friends in real life, mingling with my real-life friends, and celeb-spotting. I don’t actually mean real celebs, because let’s face it, it’s Toronto Fashion Week, not London or Milan. But there sure were a few names a lot of us, Canadians, would recognize. Among the few I saw were Jeanne Beker, Canadian model Stacey McKenzie, Flare’s Editor-in-Chief Lisa Tant and Fashion Director Liz Cabral, super-blogger Anita Clarke, international photographer Tommy Ton, Dragon-lady Arlene Dickinson, MTV’s Dan Levy, Globe and Mail’s Amy Verner and Loblaw’s Galen Weston…phew…I might’ve seen some other Canadian celebs, but those are the ones that come to mind at the moment.

I also got to meet the lovely Sarah Nicole Prickett of Eye Weekly and Jen of Bras and Ranties, rocking a vintage leopard print jumpsuit – meow, indeed. And even if this city’s fashion week was moved to The Ex, a.k.a. the most UN-fashionable location imaginable, a lot of people still brought their A-game. With the exception of the girls that wore prom/bridesmaid dresses to the shows – wrong occasion. So what am I rambling on and on about? Here are some cool, stylish, fun-dressed LGFW attendees from March/April shows that caught my eye…and the ones I could actually get to. There were others that were too far and/or my hands might or might not have been already full with Peroni and snacks.

WHAT I WORE

WHO IS NELIA?

Nelia Belkova is a Toronto-based fashion and lifestyle blogger by night and a financial analyst by day. She loves to travel, read gossip sites, eat sweets, and cuddle up to her husband and her cat on the couch. Read More…